But the Chevrolet Spark EV, on sale since June in California and Oregon, has a premium feel that we didn't notice in the gasoline model. No doubt the extraordinary sling-about go-power of the EV put a higher-level patina on the whole car.
Spark's a minicar, a little bigger than a Fiat 500. The gasoline models are priced about 58% of the EV, so it's hard to imagine you'd save enough on fuel to pay the difference.
And you're not really the green hero you might imagine. While there's no exhaust emission from the car, you've tapped into the utility company's power grid to recharge, and nearly half the electricity flowing on that grid, on average, is generated by generators burning coal.
Juice is cheaper than gasoline now, but if electrics catch on, the price of power will rise with increasing demand. That's because the grid's about maxed out, and it's very expensive to add more power plants. Carried to extremes, it's fair to argue that your EV raises my electricity bill.
But how is the Spark EV as a car, a drivable thing that gets you here and there? Pretty sweet, actually.
First, it's simple. Hop in, push the ignition switch, pull the lever into gear and away you go.
Second, it's comfy if you're in front. Seats are well-formed and controls and instruments are about where they ought to be.
Third, the buggy flat goes, at least once it's rolling a couple miles per hour. The one-speed transmission isn't a gem for zooming away from a dead start, but the 400 pounds-feet of torque the electric motor has is instantly available and slings the Spark EV forward delightfully once underway. Chevy quotes 0 to 60 mph in 7.6 seconds. We bet it could be 6 seconds or less if there were a transmission with low gearing to get rolling.
Fourth, Chevy parent General Motors does in-car electronic connectivity linkup very nicely. The MyLin! k setup (shared with the gas version of Spark) made fast and faithful friends with Test Drive's too-hip Windows phone.
The connection is fully integrated via Bluetooth, no wire connection needed (unless you want to plug into the 12-volt outlet to charge). All phone controls are available via the car controls. When playing phone tunes, the screen in the center of the dashboard shows title and artist, whether the music is stored on the phone or piped in via the phone's Pandora application.
The Chevy allows switching tracks and adjusting the volume via the dashboard — things you have to do on the phone instead of the car in some lesser system. Picking up the phone to find another song is a driver distraction that Spark avoids.
It's enough to make Ford Sync owners weep.
What you might dislike about an otherwise appealing little go-buggy:
Hooking up the charging cable. Minor, but more work than stuffing a gas nozzle into the fuel filler. The fat electric cord used by 240-volt chargers is stiff and kinky and unpleasant to coil up when out of use. Almost always dirty, too, because it drapes along the ground to reach your car.
Short range. Well, 82 miles, government rated, is in the ballpark for mainstream electrics, but unless all your miles are home to work and back, you're going to start feeling that "range anxiety" they talk about.
Driving highway-fast, with lights and climate control operating, we burned off 1.3 miles of indicated battery range for every mile driven. That was a thirsty surprise. The kick-it-and-go suburban driving we did took only about 0.9 of a mile of range for every mile driven.
Back seat. So cramped for knee and leg space that even the kids will yowl. The head restraints are terrible, too. They'll drop down when unused to improve rear visibility, but that wrenches the head and neck of the people who hop in and forget to raise them. Once raised, they often hit the skull at just the wrong spot.
It's more practical! to have ! a back seat than not, but Spark's is an impractical back seat, at best.
Styling. If you hate how it looks, of course, you wouldn't buy it in the first place. But if you're on the fence, be warned that the stumpy, truncated appearance seems like a car trying to emerge from the industrial equivalent of a photo zip file, and not quite making it. Reasonable people often disagree on matters of taste, so you might think Spark's eye candy.
Most telling? In a driveway full of appealing machines, including BMWs, which car did we take for that midnight milk run, and fast hop to pick up a prescription? Spark EV. Easy to use, small enough to park almost anywhere. And, yum, wonderfully powerful.
We hope GM decides not to limit it to California and Oregon much longer. The world at large needs a shot at an EV that'll blow the doors off some sporting machines. The sooner we make this fuel-saving business a joy ride, the sooner we'll have a lot of converts.
CHEVY SPARK DETAILS
What? Electric-power version of Spark four-door, four-passenger, front-drive minicar.
When? Went on sale in California and Oregon mid-June. Sale in other areas under consideration.
Where? Made in South Korea using U.S. drivetrain.
How much? $27,495, including $810 shipping for 1LT base model. Similarly equipped gasoline version is $15,820.
Up-level 2LT test car, which has different upholstery and steering-wheel trim, is $27,820.
Some EV buyers qualify for as much as $7,500 in federal tax credit. California gives $2,500 credit. Lease is $199 monthly for 36 months, $999 down.
Most owners will spend another $1,000 or more for a 240-volt charger to cut the long recharging time using the standard-issue 120-volt charger.
What makes it go? Electric motor rated 130 horsepower and 400 pounds-feet of torque, driving front wheels through a single-speed transmission.
How big? About 5 inches longer, an inch narrower than a Fiat 500. Maximum ! cargo spa! ce, 23.4 cubic feet.
How thirsty? Electrics are rated differently from gasoline, diesel and hybrid models. Government says Spark EV will go 82 miles on a full charge, and has mile-per-gallon equivalent ratings of 128 mpg in the city, 109 highway, 119 mpg-e in combined city/highway driving; uses 28 kilowatt-hours per 100 miles.
Test car observations: Full charge showed range of 82 to 85 miles on instrument panel. High-speed highway driving used 1.3 miles of range for every mile driven. Vigorous suburban driving used 0.9 mile of range for every mile driven.
Trip computer showed overall power consumption of 24.4 kwh per 100 miles. According to government nationwide averages, a kwh is about 13 cents, equating to $3.17 in electricity per 100 miles.
Gasoline Spark is rated 32 mpg in combined city/highway, or 3.13 gallons per 100 miles. At $3.40 a gallon, a recent nationwide average, the gasoline Spark would use $10.64 in petroleum fuel per 100 miles. That's nearly 3.4 times the cost of electricity to go as far.
Overall: Gotta love that torque; a real scooter. Back seat's a joke. Cheaper fuel cost can't erase higher purchase cost.
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